Kidney stones have plagued mankind for ages. Complications resulting from the presence of stones in the urinary tract often require surgical intervention to remedy the problem. A patient will require several days in the hospital to recover from a typical surgical procedure to remove a stone wherein a surgeon incises a patient's abdomen in order to remove the stone. The use of less invasive stone retrieval devises has decreased the suffering and recovery time required by a patient. Due to the unique structure of renal anatomy, it is difficult to reach some of the calyces during an endoscopic intra-renal surgery. This is especially true for the lower pole calyces. Unfortunately, even if access to the calyx is achieved during a surgical procedure to remove a stone and the stone is effectively crushed, it is still very difficult to remove the fragments from the calyx. This results in the patient having to pass the fragments on their own which both prolongs the treatment time and the suffering and discomfort experienced.
The stone retrieval devices known in the art fail to perform adequately, thus, there is significant room for improvement. The stone retrieval device disclosed below is an improvement over those known in the art.